Paulson begins her sixth season as Head Cross Country Coach in 2020 after serving three seasons as an assistant with the program writing workouts and recruiting. She also serves as Assistant Track & Field coach, working mainly with distance runners.
In 2019, Paulson led St. Kate's to a 10th place finish at the MIAC Cross Country Championship as a team and 18th overall at the NCAA Central Region Championships. St. Kate's earned the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors with the second-highest GPA (3.74) in the MIAC and 12th highest in Division III. Additionally, four student-athletes were named to the MIAC Academic All-Conference Fall team.
In 2018, St. Kate's finished in 10th at the MIAC Cross Country Championships, with Riley McMahon coming in 15th earning MIAC All-Conference Honors. Paulson's team earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors with the top GPA (3.81) in the MIAC and fourth best in Division III. The team also named five to the MIAC Academic All-Conference team and earned the department's Team GPA Award.
In 2016, Paulson led the Wildcats to their most successful season in over ten years, as the team recorded its highest finish at a MIAC Cross Country Championship. As a team, the Wildcats finished sixth at the conference meet before taking 14th at the NCAA Regional race two weeks later. Paulson also coached Rachel Hall and Leighlin Ahlstrom to All-Region finishes, while Hall became the first student-athlete to earn All-MIAC and All-Region honors since Ailee Larson achieved the feet, and appeared in the NCAA Championship, in 2013.
Paulson brings a wealth of experience to St. Kate’s after spending 12 successful years as head coach of both the men’s and women’s cross country and women's track & field programs at Bowling Green State University. While at Bowling Green, she coached 101 all-conference finishers, 17 all-conference award winners and nine school record holders.
Prior to her tenure at Bowling Green, Paulson spent two seasons as the Head Cross Country Coach and Assistant Track & Field Coach at Wichita State University, where she coached two conference champions and one NCAA national qualifier in cross country.
After graduating from Drake University, Paulson went on to earn her master's in sport administration from Wichita State. While at Drake, she was a three-time Missouri Valley Conference champion in track and field, eight-time all-conference in both cross country and track and national qualifier for cross country. Paulson also competed at the 2014 Boston Marathon.
